125 million years old world’s first flower discovered

Alive 125 million years ago, at the same time as the Brachiosaurus dinosaur, the world’s “first” flower has just been discovered. Montsechia vidalli, a nondescript pond weed, lived its entire life under water in the freshwater lakes of northern and central Spain.

The flower does not have petals or bright colours as you would expect, but instead has fine fibres or leaves, resembling that of the common pond weed Ceratophyllum, more commonly known as hornwort or coontail